


A Blue Starfall

by croissantbleu



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: (not main characters), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Elf!Dan, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Plantboy Phil Lester, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, a lot more fluff though probably, botanist!phil, death mentions, elf au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 05:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/croissantbleu/pseuds/croissantbleu
Summary: Phil is a botanist who enjoys going on hikes through the woods, when someday he walks into someone quite... particular. He didn't believe in coincidences, so maybe it really was fate that guided his steps.





	1. Chapter 1

Phil liked plants. He liked the outdoors, going on hikes for several hours, and studying plants. He liked all of this so much, in fact, that he had made it his job. He was paid to go out and look at the beauty of nature, and he couldn’t have asked for better. Well, that was only part of his job, but it was his favourite one.

You would have expected him to enjoy his quiet time inside when he wasn’t at work. He didn’t. He liked spending time at his apartment, of course, and just relax for a while, but honestly? He always felt so much more alive when he was outside and just walking around. He was lucky that he didn’t live in a big city, and was surrounded by plenty of green areas. He was used to taking a walk along the border of the forest every day before going home.

Lately though, he had been too busy. His schedule suddenly got impossibly full, and the biggest part of his days had been spent at the lab - he had even slept there for a night. The laboratory wasn’t exactly close to his apartment, and sometimes going home just wasn’t worth it. He hated busy weeks like this, because he was stuck inside all day, and the only thing he wanted to do after all those hours was sleep. And that went on and on for a whole week. That was too much for him.

As soon as he finally got a day off, Phil was gone. He headed towards the forest, that was just about an hour away from home, relishing in the way the wind felt against his skin and through his hair.

He could breathe again. 

He arrived to the border of the forest and stepped inside. The sun was still high in the sky, and he easily had a few hours left before it started getting dark. He quickly stepped away from the path, as he preferred walking where the trees were closer. He threw his head back and look at the top of the trees, at the branches and the shapes they formed on the blue of the sky. 

Today was a good day to go on a hike through the woods. 

Phil looked back in front of him. He couldn’t help but feel… weird. He didn’t remember ever walking through here before, which was weird considering his tendency to get lost amongst the tall trees. He shrugged it off and kept walking, listening to the leaves and branches cracking under his feet and the birds chirping. He probably couldn’t tell the difference between two forests once he was in the middle of one of them anyway, trees just looked like trees.

A flash of blue on the ground caught his eye. He stepped closer and crouched, removing the few leaves over it. There stood a beautiful blue flower, not familiar to Phil. The shape of the petals and leaves didn’t remind him of anything, and he realized he should probably mention it as soon as he was back to the lab, so he took his phone from his jacket’s pocket and took a picture of it. Pictures were always more useful than descriptions, it was too easy to forget or use a word instead of another. Phil had this handy piece of technology with him, and he sure was going to use it when it could help.

He stood up again and walked away from the flower. He’d have to send the picture to the lab when he got back home. Lila was usually staying late, maybe she could even see it before leaving. Phil was really intrigued by it. He obviously couldn’t remember every kind of flower immediately, but it was still a little weird that he did not remember ever seeing it before. That was kind of his job.

A couple minutes passed quietly and he was enjoying the calm when he suddenly spotted someone standing a bit further. So far away from the path, Phil thought they were probably lost. He quickly walked up to the hooded figure.

“Hey,” he called out. “Sorry to bother you, I just thought you might be…”

They turned around to face him, the hood falling in the process, and the rest of Phil’s sentence got lost somewhere between his throat and his mouth. That wasn’t a person. That wasn’t a  _ human _ person. The creature’s eyes went wide and the hood was quickly pulled back on, hiding the long and pointy ears again.

“Who-Wh-What are you?” Phil spluttered.

He hadn’t eaten anything weird today, right? There had to be an explanation to all this. Yes, the ears were probably just part of the costume, and the black marks on the cheeks and neck were makeup. They had to be. Right? That was the only explana-

“I’m an elf” the creature said quickly. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

Phil took a step back. “I’m not going to- I’m-”

He couldn’t remember how to form sentences. He took another step back, and felt his right heel slip onto a root, and suddenly the sky was in front of his eyes and there was a sharp pain in the back of his head and in his back. He heard someone running next to him, and he just had time to see the brown eyes of the creature before everything went black.

**

When Phil opened up his eyes, he was confused for a few seconds about why he was staring at the sky and lying on the ground, when the memories hit him. And the headache with them. The sun was much lower than the last time he remembered seeing it. He groaned and tried to sit down when a hand was hesitantly placed on his shoulder to make him stop. 

“Careful,” a voice said, making him jump and the hand was gone. “You’ve hit your head pretty hard there, don’t rush.”

He looked up to see the creature - the elf - from earlier looking down at him, apparently concerned. The hood was pulled down again, letting the ears exposed.

“Who are you?” Phil asked, keeping his voice as level as he could. He didn’t want to scare him again.

“I’m Dan. Are you okay? You’ve been asleep for a while.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. My head just hurts a bit.” Dan raised an eyebrow, and Phil sighed. “Okay, a lot. That’s to be expected I guess. My name’s Phil, by the way.”

“I have something to help with the headache,” Dan said.

He stood up and disappeared from Phil’s sight for a few seconds, before coming back with some kind of bowl containing what looked like red syrup, maybe? He had no idea. Dan kneeled next to him.

“Here, that’s what my mum used to give me when I hit my head as a kid. It’s safe, I promise. Tastes like strawberries.”

Phil’s hesitation must’ve been showing because Dan smiled, the corners of his mouth digging into the black marks on his cheeks.

“I can’t blame you for not trusting me,” he admitted. “Look, I’ll have some and if nothing goes wrong you can try it, alright?”

Phil considered it for a second, before nodding. His head hurt too much, and he wouldn’t be able to walk home like that. And if Dan had wanted to kill him, he would’ve had plenty of time to do so when he was unconscious, instead of preparing medicine and waiting for him to wake up. That would be a pretty bad plan, actually. Dan drank a little bit of the syrup, and waited a few minutes to hand it to Phil. He accepted the wooden bowl and emptied it quickly. It did taste like strawberries.

“It should take just a few minutes to act, and then you’ll be all fine,” Dan assured him, taking the bowl back and putting it in his bag.

Wait, he didn’t have a bag earlier, did he? He didn’t remember seeing a bag at all earlier. Dan must’ve caught Phil’s look, because he smiled a little.

“I had to run back home quickly so I could get what I needed. I didn’t leave you for long, don’t worry, I didn’t know what else to do.”

“It’s not like I was going to go anywhere, don’t worry,” Phil smiled back.

That was weird. Why did he feel like he could trust him? To be fair, the medicine he gave him seemed to be very effective, his headache was only a faint echo of what it was just a few minutes ago. He hadn’t expected it to work that well. He definitely had a few questions. Okay, maybe a lot of questions.

“Yeah, I know.” Dan sighed and sat back. “You scared me, I thought you were dead for a second then. I’m going to be the one having a heart attack if you keep scaring me like that.”

Phil laughed. “Hey, you scared me too! I don’t exactly see elves very often, you know. That was a bit of a shock.”

Dan shrugged. “There aren’t a lot of humans around here, I wasn’t expecting you to just show up suddenly.”

“Wait- how is that possible? I live barely an hour away from here, and there are lots of houses quite close to the forest. Surely, you’ve seen someone wandering around at some point.”

He grimaced. “That’d be quite a long explanation, and you probably want to go home before it gets too dark, especially if it takes you another hour to get there. You should leave now, if your head is alright.”

“You’re right, I should leave before it’s too late,” Phil said as he stood up. “Thank you for the medicine, my head’s a lot better.”

“No problem,” Dan smiled.

He got up as well and took a step back to let him some space.

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” Phil grinned. “Thank you again for the help.”

“Don't worry about it, really. It was nice, talking to someone new for once,” Dan chuckled.

Phil smiled again and turned around, just about to walk away, when Dan interrupted him.

“Wait!” Phil looked back at him. “Would you.. would you come back? Please? And… not tell people about me.”

Phil couldn't say he wasn't surprised, maybe more by the look on Dan's face than his requests. He looked… sad. And lonely.

“Yeah, yes of course. I'll come back. Next week, if you want?”

Dan seemed to relax and a relieved smile appeared on his lips.

“Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Phil said as he bowed exaggeratedly which made Dan laugh loudly.

“Alright, time to leave. Goodbye!”

“Bye Dan, I’ll see you in a few days?”

“Yeah,” Dan smiled again. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Phil had so much questions on his way home, his head was buzzing and he couldn’t focus on anything. He arrived just a bit before it got too dark, and at this point he had convinced himself that he just dreamed everything that happened. He probably just tripped on an exposed root and hit this head, and hallucinated it all. That was the only plausible explanation, right? There was no way elves were real and living in a forest so close to his house. And he would just happened to run into one of them? No. Phil didn’t really believe in coincidences. He believed in fate, and he liked to believe that everything happened for a reason, but what would be the reason behind that? No, he must’ve imagined it.

He looked down at his phone, unlocked it and went in the picture folder. It was right here. The picture of that unknown blue flower. He couldn’t shake the feeling that nobody at the lab would know what kind of flower it was, if he asked them.

He walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, letting his head fall back to look at the ceiling. If the mysterious flower was real, then everything else had to be. He could almost still taste the red syrup that Dan gave him. But that didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

His finger hovered over the sharing button that would send an email to Lila, but he decided against it and just went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. He couldn’t do that. If he send them the flower, they’d ask where he found it and that could put Dan in danger. If he did exist. But that was a risk Phil wasn’t ready to take.

He deleted the photo.


	2. Chapter 2

Phil had rarely gotten so little sleep. This week had been a busy one once again, and he had spent three days out of town after one of his friends had called, asking him to come by and help him with a survey Phil had sent him a few days before. Today was his first day back at the lab, and the last day before the weekend. Finally. The last day before he went back to the forest to see Dan.

That was all that had been on his mind for the past week. He simply couldn't stop thinking about it for more than a few minutes. He had so many questions about everything, and he could feel his patience wearing out second after second. Some of the people he worked with had noticed that his attention wasn’t fully directed on his work, but he just avoided the questions they asked him. He had to get back on track soon, before it got him into trouble.

Lila smiled at him from behind her computer when he walked into the room and waved.

“Hey Phil! Nice to have you back down here, it gets boring without you.”

“Hi Lila. Nice to be back, if you ask me,” he smiled. “Hey, have you ever seen any weird flowers around here?” he asked before he could stop himself.

He immediately knew from the way she arched her eyebrow that he shouldn't have said anything. She was too curious to let him ask a question like that without understanding why. Damn it.

“No, I don't think so. What do you mean by “weird”, though?”

“I don't know. I saw a flower the other day, but I couldn't remember seeing it before.”

Her eyes lit up with a spark of interest.

“Really? What was it like?”

“I can't remember,” he answered quickly. “It was probably nothing though. I don't have a great memory, you know, I'm sure it was just a common one and I just forgot it existed,” he added with a laugh.

He could tell she didn't believe him, she was too good at reading him for that, but she was also kind enough to know when pushing wasn't the thing to do. So she just smiled and went back to her work, and Phil left the room, his heart beating slightly too fast. He should just stop talking sometimes. He trusted Lila enough to know that she wouldn't keep bothering him about it though. But he had to be more careful, at least until he got some answers.

*

As he walked through the forest, Phil couldn’t help but feel like all of this was stupid. He wasn’t even sure if he was really expecting to find Dan again or if he was just waiting for a proof that it all was nothing but a figment of his imagination. It wouldn’t really surprise him honestly, he had a very active imagination as a child, maybe falling on his head had made him remember of all the theories and ideas he had when he was younger? He had no idea what he should expect at this point. He had been tempted to pretend nothing happened and just not come back, but he simply couldn’t. He had too many questions about what it all meant. And he made a promise. He wasn’t one to break his promises if he could avoid it.

So he kept on walking, looking around to try and see if he could spot Dan anywhere. He saw a hooded figure kneeling on the ground a bit further on his right, and he walked up to it.

“Hi,” he said, making them turn around.

Dan smiled and stood up, pulling his hood down. 

“You came back,” he said, and his eyes were so bright from happiness that suddenly Phil didn't regret his choice anymore.

“I said I would, didn't I?” he smiled back.

Dan shrugged. “I could have understood why you would have preferred to stay away from here, honestly. But I'm glad you didn't chose to.”

“Me too,” Phil admitted.

Dan smiled again and picked up his bag lying on the ground.

“Do you want to go inside? My house is just a couple of minutes away. It's small, but you probably have a few questions and it'll be warmer there.”

Phil almost raised an eyebrow at the realization that Dan  _ lived  _ in the forest, but caught himself just on time. He didn't know why he was expecting anything else, really, it was pretty obvious. He was right though, the air was quite chilly and he was starting to feel a bit cold.

“Yes sure, good idea. I'll follow you.”

Dan turned around and started to walk away, Phil right behind him. If he was honest, he was quite amazed at how easily Dan could navigate his way through the trees without hesitation, when there was no sign to guide him. Phil had already lost track of where they were, and they had only been walking for about two minutes. He was impressed, really. But that was probably a perk of having lived here for a while, just like he could find his way in streets of grey buildings without too much trouble. Different experiences created different skills, probably.

He walked up to be next to Dan instead of behind him, and Dan assured him they weren’t far. They continued in silence, but it was a surprisingly comfortable one, even considering the dozens of thoughts that crossed Phil’s mind at any second. There was something comforting about just walking through the forest with someone else, and knowing that we wasn’t just imagining it all. Well, probably not, at least.

He was slowly starting to accept that everything was real. The wavy black marks going from Dan’s cheek to behind his ears were real, just like the mark going around his neck similar to jewelry, and just like his pointed ears. 

Just like the mysterious blue flower was real. 

“Alright, we’re here,” Dan announced, moving aside the branches of a weeping willow to allow Phil to walk under them.

On the side side was a relatively small glade basked in the cold February sunlight, with a wooden cabin next to a tall tree (probably an ash, but at this distance Phil wasn’t sure) and almost hidden in its shade. There were areas where the grass was barely starting to grow, which was a little weird, but he just shrugged it off.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Dan came up beside him. “Come on, let’s get inside.”

“So, is it just you here?” Phil asked as Dan opened the door.

He wished he hadn’t said anything when he noticed the way his shoulders fell slightly before he answered. He really should learn to think before speaking.

“Yes. There used to be others, but… it’s complicated. I wouldn’t know where to start. Come in,” he invited him. “Sorry, it's a bit messy.”

The interior looked very cosy, with a big fireplace on the wall of the room. On the right was a bed buried under a bunch of duvets and partially hidden by some kind of screen. There were also a blue rug covering most of the floor, and a couple of bookshelves that were completely full. The left side was mostly occupied by a massive table made of a light-coloured wood, most likely oak wood, and the chairs going with it. The four windows were all framed by night blue curtains, held to the sides by black ribbons to let the light enter the room. The atmosphere was so comfortable that Phil felt himself relax almost immediately. He wished his apartment had such a pleasant feeling to it.

“Sorry it's not much,” Dan apologized again. “Would you like some tea?”

“I'd love that, thank you,” Phil smiled. “And it's a really nice place, if you ask me. I like what you've done with it.”

Dan chuckled. “Thank you! I'm glad you like it.”

He hung the kettle on the metal bar set in the fireplace and started the fire under it, gradually filling the air with warmth and crackling sounds. The warmth was welcome, Phil was really starting to get cold out there. February was always colder than he remembered, and he always was caught by surprise by the biting wind, especially on the mornings. The last few nights had been incredibly clear, which was always beautiful but really did not help raise the temperatures to more comfortable ones.

“Please, have a seat,” Dan said. “I promise the chairs are more comfortable than they look,” he added with a smile.

Phil smiled back and sat at the table. He was right, the cushion on the chair made it a lot less uncomfortable that he thought, and he briefly wondered where they came from. Dan stayed next to the fireplace, keeping an eye on the kettle.

“So,” Phil started. “Who are you?”

Dan sighed. “That’s a very vague question, you know. I’m just Dan. But if you really want to go into detail, I’m technically an Elf prince, too.”

“What do you mean, technically?”

Also, he was a prince? Phil wasn’t expecting that. But then again, he didn’t really know what he was supposed to expect in this situation, even if he had begun to accept that it was really happening, it still felt strange. It was as if he had accidentally walked into another world and was trying to adjust to it and find some answers. That was pretty much what had happened, actually, except that he was still in his own world. A more accurate description would be that two worlds collided and merged together without anyone knowing, and Phil just walked across the border without noticing. Which did sound like something he would do, actually.

Dan brought the kettle to the table and took two big glasses from a cupboard, in which he dropped two bundles of leaves before setting them next to the kettle. He poured the hot water into them, and gave one to Phil.

“Let it set for a bit, it’s going to flower. You’ll see. And, well, I’m not really prince of anything right now. It’s more of an honorary title anyway, but I’m the only one left here so, yeah. I’m currently prince of myself and this house,” he added with a laugh.

It sounded like a sad laugh, though, and Phil wondered why there wasn’t anyone else here anymore, but he didn’t dare to ask. Not now, at least. That just joined the list of questions turning around in his head. He looked down at his glass in front of him and his eyes widened slightly.

“Woah! That's so pretty,” he breathed.

The bundle of leaves had opened with the water and there was now a flower surrounded by a crown of green and brown leaves at the bottom of the glass. Dan laughed and his eyes were sparkling when Phil looked up at him.

“I told you it would flower. It's nice, isn't it? My dad taught me how to do it. It took some practice, but I like it.”

There it was again, that melancholy barely perceptible under the smiles and laughs, always there but carefully hidden behind kind words and happy faces. Phil couldn't quite tell where it was coming from, but it was getting more and more obvious that something had happened. Maybe the same thing that led everyone to leave, except from Dan.

“It is pretty impressive,” Phil commented. “Is it what you do all day here?”

Dan shrugged. “Sometimes. It is a calming thing to do, but there are always other places I need to be or something else to fix.”

Phil nodded and brought the glass of tea to his lips. It tasted like roses, so subtly it was almost difficult to recognize, and it was funny to see the flower move when the glass moved. That was probably one of the best teas he’d had, in all honesty. 

“But what about you? What do you do all day?” Dan asked suddenly.

“Oh, I’m a botanist. So I mostly study plants, I guess? Most of my job at the moment is about the effects of pollution on different areas and different plant populations, so that’s the major part of my days.”

Dan’s face lit up, a smile immediately appearing on his lips.

“That’s amazing! So you know a lot about plants, right? Are you working alone?”

Phil chuckled. “No, there are a few people I’m working with. There’s Lila and David who work in the same laboratory as I do, and there’s also Noah who’s up in another town but who works with us a lot. But yeah! I’ve always had a passion for Nature and the outdoors, so I’m glad I got to work in something I was really interested in.”

Dan nodded. “That sounds awesome.”

They stayed there in silence for a few minutes, slowly emptying their glass of tea, before Phil spoke up again.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, that's most of what you've been doing so far,” Dan smirked. “Don't stop now.”

“I'm pretty sure I would've noticed a house in a glade at some point when walking around here. So why didn't I? Were you always there?”

“We've always been there,” he confirmed. “You just couldn't see us.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“When a forest hosts a significant number of elves, like it was the case here, one of our magicians casts a spell to prevent humans from coming. It usually confuses you enough that it makes you go out of the forest without really remembering why or how. It's totally harmless, don't worry, it's just a safety measure.”

Phil frowned. “But why am I here then? I mean, I am pretty confused but I guess that's to be expected in this situation.”

Dan laughed. “Yes, that's fine, you're not under the spell now. It wore out a bit after the other elves left, so I'm just trying to be careful now. But there are very few people coming that deep into the woods anyway, you know, so I don’t really have much to worry about. You're the first human I've seen in over ten years, and I think the spell went down maybe a year ago. Nobody has come here in ages.”

“Couldn't you just cast a new one? You'd be safe again that way, wouldn't you?” Phil asked. “That would be a better solution than just hoping for the best.”

"I can't,” he shook his head. “I don't have any magic, and only a magician can cast the spell anyway They’re the ones with the best connection and ability to use it, and that spell is a pretty hard one to realise from what I know. And there hasn't been any magician around here for a while.”

“Why did they all leave?” Phil asked before he could stop himself.

“It's a long story,” Dan said again. “And now's not the time to tell it.”

Phil didn't insist, just nodded and hummed in understanding. Dan had already told him a lot, and he didn't want to upset him. He was starting to like him, which was probably a bad idea, but he was so full of life, even with this shadow of melancholy always hovering above him and occasionally hiding his light for a few seconds, that he couldn't help but want to spend more time with him and learn more about him.

That's what he was. Like the sun high in a summer sky, sometimes hidden by a cloud or two, but always coming back and shining just as bright.

Phil liked that idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone for reading! i hope you liked it <3  
> you can talk to me on tumblr @ gevaudanrises! next chapter will be up next week if all goes well


	3. Chapter 3

Phil probably couldn't have stopped himself from coming back, even if he had wanted to. Which wasn't the case, far from it. Saturday was his favourite day of the week, now more than ever because it meant meeting up with Dan again. It was maybe strange how quickly this new routine had fallen into place, but he wasn't complaining. He loved when Dan talked to him about the few plants that could only be found here because elves had been growing them for decades, there was a whole bunch of flowers that Phil had never seen before. Dan had noticed how excited Phil was about it, and he always laughed at the way his eyes went wide and sparkling whenever he showed him a new flower. Dan had tried showing him how to make the bundles of leaves for the flowering tea but after a few attempts, Phil decided he didn't have enough patience or precision for it. 

It had been just over a month since they first met now, but Phil often thought it felt like more. Days were dragging impossibly longer across the week and Saturdays seemed to never be coming closer. 

On his way through the trees, he kept thinking about how he compared Dan to the Sun that one time, and how accurate that was. Dan was the Sun, and Phil some kind of asteroid that got too close to be able to pursue its route into nothingness, and had instead been pulled into orbit. Maybe he should share this theory with him, someday, it was a funny analogy. He smiled. Dan would probably just laugh and tell him that he  _ at least _ had to be a planet, and not just some random boring asteroid. Yeah, he knew he would say something like that. Maybe he shouldn’t mention it for now anyway, that was probably a weird thing to think about, and an even weirder thing to tell someone. But he liked that idea.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and was about to continue walking when a face appeared in front of him, nearly making his heart stop. That was Dan's face. Upside down.

“Hello,” he smiled.

Smiles looked weird upside down, he noted. Phil looked up to see that he was hanging off a branch, suspended by the legs. That wasn't going to end well.

“Stop scaring me half to death,” he complained. “That's unfair. You're just being mean. And your face looks like a strawberry, you're very red.”

Dan laughed and looked like he was about to say something when his expression suddenly turned to fear.

He was going to fall. 

Somehow, Phil moved fast enough to catch him before he hit the ground. He almost fell over under the added weight but managed to adjust to it without sending them both to the floor. He looked down at Dan in his arms.

“I'm going to drop you,” he said.

Dan laughed again, the moment of fear had passed and he knew Phil wouldn't intentionally drop him. Especially not after catching him when he had fallen from a tree. 

“I should survive this one, at least.”

Phil shook his head and put him down, lightly squeezing his shoulder. “I'm really going to think you're trying to kill me by scaring me like that, you know.”

Dan chuckled. “Sorry, I swear that wasn't on purpose. Thanks for catching me by the way, not sure how well I would've handled falling from that high,” he added, looking up at the tree. “Maybe I should avoid doing that again.”

“Please do, I'd rather not have to catch you every time I come here.”

“I promise,” Dan smiled.

A flash of blue caught Phil's eye, and he noticed the mysterious blue flower that he saw the first time he walked in that forest.

“Hey, Dan? What's this flower?”

He looked where Phil was pointing and his eyes went just a little bit wider. He walked up to it, and crouched down to look at it more closely. Phil walked next to him.

“Well,” he said after a few seconds. “That would appear to be a blue starfall.”

“Is there a problem? You look weird.”

Dan shook his head. “No, no, it's just… it shouldn't be here on its own. There's a whole field of them a bit to the east, but they're really difficult to maintain. Typically one of the flowers that would've disappeared from here a while ago if there hadn't been elves to take care of them. It just… It doesn't make sense for one of them to be here.” He shrugged. “I mean, it's probably nothing. Maybe this one just got lucky.”

He stood up and looked back at Phil with a smile.

“You know, there are lots of myths and beliefs about them. The blue ones in particular, they’re less common. They're awesome flowers.”

“Like what?”

Dan leaned on the tree behind him, absentmindedly tracing the pattern of the trunk.. 

“Some say that seeing one is a sign that big changes are about to happen. Others think it's a warning for death.” He shrugged. “Honestly, there probably are as many different versions as people you can ask. But I think everyone agrees that if you see one, something is coming.”

“What do think about that?” Phil asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Dan laughed. “It's bullshit. Flowers can't predict the future, no matter how rare they are. It's just a story children are told on cold evenings. It's only a flower.”

Phil nodded, but he kept thinking. Despite what Dan said, it kind of made sense to him. Magic was a thing apparently, with magicians that could cast a spell on a whole forest, it didn't seem like that much of a stretch to say that flowers could be magical too. And he couldn't forget that the first time he saw a blue starfall, as Dan had called them, was only minutes before his world collapsed. Maybe it had been nothing more than luck, but Phil didn't really believe it. He liked stories and legends, he always had, and maybe he wanted to think that the flower was a magical one. That wasn’t a lot weirder than most of what he had learned about in the past month.

“Why is it called ‘blue starfall’, by the way?” Phil asked suddenly, snapping out of his thoughts.

Dan shrugged again. That was going to end up being his signature move if he kept it that way.

“I probably knew that story, but I haven’t heard it in years. I forgot, sorry.”

Phil tilted his head. “You could make one up,” he suggested.

Dan looked at him for a couple seconds, his expression unreadable, before a smile slowly started to form on his lips.

“Okay, I guess I can try. Mh, let me think… Okay, I got it. A long, long time ago, when the oldest trees of this forest were still so young and frail, there were few flowers amongst them. Elves arrived here from another forest and decided they liked it enough to know that was where they wished to live now. And on that night, after every one of them had lost themselves deeply in the kingdom of dreams, stars rained down from the sky. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of them fell on the ground, softly landing on the grass and moss that covered the dirt. After a few hours, after the sun had risen again and was high enough in the sky for the elves to get out of the tents they had built the day before, the little ones went out to run and play through the trees. And that's when one of them saw this strange flower, one they had never seen before. So they ran to their parents to bring them back and ask them, what flower is it? But nobody knew. It was just as if they had appeared out of nowhere. But one elf stepped forward, and they told the others how they've seen the stars fall that night, and so all the elves decided to name the flowers ‘starfalls’. Most of them had this silver colour, and others were as dark as the sky at the deepest hours of the night. But a few of them, twenty at most, had their petals painted in this particular blue. And that's how the tale of the blue starfall goes,” Dan concluded with a chuckle that made his eyes sparkle.

Phil could barely remember that staring at someone wasn't always considered a good thing and he had to force himself to look away from Dan's face, and he found himself staring at the flower again. His brain kept turning and turning in search of something to say but he just couldn’t find  _ anything _ . His mind had gone blank. 

“That's… that's a good story,” he managed to say after a second or two. “You'd make a good storyteller.”

He looked back at Dan and felt momentarily blinded by the candor and brightness of his smile.

“Thank you! You know, it's funny that you said that,” he commented. “Because I used to be the one keeping the kids occupied by telling them stories all the time, back then. That was nice.”

The underlying melancholy was back, maybe more than ever, and it was almost physically painful for Phil to hear it like that. He knew it was ridiculous really, and he knew he probably couldn’t do anything about anyway, but there was  _ something _ nagging at the back of his mind, trying to get him to say, to do something,  _ anything _ to drive the dark clouds away and bring back the warmth and happiness of the sunshine that was his smile. But he couldn’t. And he hated that he knew that nothing he could say or do would really change that. So he just gave him a smile and hoped it would be enough, at least for a little while. Until he found a better way to help, somehow. But Dan's face seemed to lighten up a little at that, and Phil relaxed. 

The clouds never lasted long. And maybe, just maybe, that could be enough. Maybe he could try to keep the clouds away as much as he could.

*

Dan had been showing him how to identify a fruit-producing tree from one that only had flowers for a couple minutes, and he normally would’ve been listening attentively but his attention kept slipping away and getting lost in the middle of all his thoughts. There was still so much he didn’t know, and it scared him sometimes. He had gotten used to the idea that he didn’t know everything, but then it would suddenly hit him just  _ how much _ it was. He couldn’t help but feel like everything he thought was an unchangeable fact maybe… wasn’t. And he didn’t know what he could trust, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to believe now. In appearance, nothing had really changed. He still went to work every day and filled up reports and surveys and talked to Lila and David. Nothing had changed for them, they probably had no idea of the crisis he was internally having.

And then there was Dan, who had been that turning point. If he hadn’t seen him in the forest that day, he would never have known about all this. He never would’ve known about elves, or magicians, or blue starfalls, or that lonely Elf prince making flowering tea and giving medicine to strangers. And sometimes he thought that it would be easier to stop coming back and to just… forget about all of this. To just pretend his world was still the exact same as it was two months ago, and that he hadn’t met anyone who changed his perspective on everything he thought he knew. 

But he knew that he couldn’t, he couldn’t give up on the way Dan’s entire face seemed to light up when he saw him, or how his ears moved a little when he was focused, or the tilt of his head and the expression in his eyes when he was thinking about something Phil had just said. And he didn’t want to stop seeing him smile or hearing his laugh, and he wanted him to tell him more stories about everything and anything. And Saturdays had never felt so short and so far away from each other.

“Hey,” Dan waved his hand in front of him, a small smile playing on his lips. “Where’s your mind gone?”

“Sorry,” Phil grimaced apologetically. “I was just… thinking.”

“About what?”

Dan pushed a strand of hair to the side and his sleeve fell back on his arm a little, showing his wrist and the black mark going around it. 

“Can I ask you something?” Phil asked instead of answering Dan's question.

What could he have said anyway? That he was questioning everything he knew about the world and couldn't tell what was going on in his head anymore? No. He couldn't say that. Dan tilted his head to the left, so slightly Phil would've missed it if he hadn’t been used to it, and Phil could see the curiosity in his eyes.

“Go ahead, yes,” he said eventually.

“Are these tattoos?” Phil asked, pointing to the mark of Dan's wrist.

“Oh, that? No, I was born with them. Not all of them actually but - look.”

He pushed up his sleeve to reveal other marks, forming three circles around his forearm and another circle with a dot on his elbow. 

“I was born with the ones around my wrist and elbow, but the three circles appeared after, when I was around 10 I think? Most of the marks I have, I was born with, but a few of them have grown over time. This one did too,” he added as he pointed to the mark around his neck.

Phil saw how Dan shivered suddenly, so he reached out to pull the sleeve back on his arm, and the marks were covered again. And maybe his fingers lingered on the soft fabric of the coat for a few seconds too long before letting it go, and maybe he could feel Dan's eyes on him even without looking. And when he looked up, the brown eyes were filled with unsaid questions mixed to a softness that made him feel like he was falling and falling and falling again, without hope of getting back up.


	4. Chapter 4

Phil hadn’t been expecting any visit. His parents didn't exactly live close to him, and even if they talked a lot, they didn't see each other all that often. So when someone rang at the door and he found his mum behind it, his mind immediately went to dark places.

“Surprise!” She exclaimed, opening her arms in emphasis. “I was just in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd come and say hi to my favourite son.”

Phil smiled, reassured. “I'm your only son, you have to say I'm your favourite. Come in,” he invited her.

“I'm not going to stay long, I have a train to catch in two hours, but I couldn't not come to see you,” she explained as she walked inside and took off her coat. “It is bloody cold over here, don't catch a pneumonia by going outside for hours again.”

“Actually,” he said, closing the door. “I'm going over to a friend's later this afternoon.”

“Oh dear, I hope I’m not bothering your plans? I know you usually don’t do much on weekends so I supposed you wouldn’t mind but-”

“No, mum, it’s fine! I’ll just join him after you leave. I’m happy to see you,” he smiled.

*

It was snowing. It had probably started just a bit after Phil’s mum arrived, there was already a heavy layer on the ground by the time she left. Snow in April wasn’t exactly rare, but it was uncommon enough to be unexpected still. 

He could hear the snow crack under his steps, and feel it stuck to his shoes as he was making his way to the forest. He pulled his hood up to shield himself from the snowflakes attacking the back of his neck and slipping past the collar of his jumper. It was nice though, he thought. He liked how his breath was coming out in white puffs, and how he could see his sleeves getting covered in tiny white dots until their original color was hard to distinguish. He liked feeling the cold and crisp air against his cheeks in a way that made him feel so much more alive. There hadn’t been a lot of snow that winter, so he was determined to enjoy it now that he got the chance.

It felt strange, walking through the woods. Almost like he was dreaming. Or in another world, even. Everything was covered in white, the snow seemingly untouched. He was feeling like he wasn’t supposed to be there. Everything was so quiet, as if the snow was muffling every sound. That could almost make him forget about the breeze biting at his skin and making his nose feel numb. He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and walked a little faster, staying careful to avoid slipping on the frozen leaves hidden under the layer of snow.

It was later than usual, and he was a bit worried of what Dan would’ve imagined. It wasn’t as if he could have warned him anyway, but he didn’t want him to think he abandoned him or anything like that. Dan could be quick to jump to conclusions, sometimes. Often when they weren’t good for him.

Phil continued walking. With time, he wasn't getting lost through the trees as much as he used to. But the snow was making it more difficult, hiding his landmarks under a soft blanket. He made it to the glade though, partly thanks to the weeping willow with its recognizable form that he had seen from a few feet away. He walked under the branches, nearly getting himself buried under the mountain of snow that fell to the ground when he moved the wrong branch. 

When he looked back at the glade, he found it empty. He frowned. There wasn’t any smoke coming from the house’s chimney, and he couldn’t see Dan anywhere. Where could he have gone in such conditions? The snow was only falling harder as time passed. He was starting to get worried, when he noticed something on the ground, in front of a tree. Something that  _ really _ looked like Dan facing away from him, his usually grey coat covered in so much snow, it was blending into the background almost perfectly.

He walked up to him and sat next to him, in silence.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” Dan mumbled eventually, not turning his eyes away from the bottom of the tree.

“I’m sorry I was late,” Phil said. “Let’s go inside, you must be freezing. You’re going to catch something.”

He stood up again and offered him his hand. Dan turned his head and looked at it for a few seconds before looking up at him. The hood was hiding most of his face but his eyes were practically shining with sadness and pain, so deep that Phil almost forgot how to breathe for a moment. After a few seconds, Dan took his hand and let Phil pull him up to his feet, then into a hug. Phil could feel him shaking in his arms and how cold his cheek was against his neck, so,  _ so _ cold. They stayed like that for a few seconds, until Dan shivered violently.

“Come on,” Phil said, taking a step back. “Let’s get you inside.”

They walked to the house, Dan’s hand still in Phil’s. The door wasn’t locked so he opened it, letting Dan’s hand go to walk up to the fireplace and start a fire, putting on the kettle at the same time. He had no idea how long Dan had been sat in the snow before he arrived, most likely not long enough to be of any danger, but he still preferred to know him inside now. He went over to the bed and grabbed a heavy blanket, bringing it back towards the center of the room.

Dan was sat in front of the fire that was starting to grow, having already hanged his coat, and he was trying to take his boots off.

“There was snow in my boots,” he said, discarding them as Phil sat down next to him with the blanket and two cups of tea, handing him one. “Thank you.”

He warmed his hands around it for a while, shoulder pressed against Phil’s after he had wrapped the blanket over them both. The air was slowly getting warmer and Phil could feel the waves of heat coming from the fire.

“I’m sorry I was late,” Phil ended up saying. “I was worried you’d go imagining things.”

“No,” Dan shook his head. “It’s fine. It wasn’t your fault.”

“What’s going on?” Phil asked softly.

Dan looked into his cup for a few seconds before drinking a bit of tea, and taking a deep breath.

“Everybody left because we had been attacked. A pack of wolves. I don’t know how they got here, but nobody felt safe anymore after that. And, I can understand. It was scary, especially for the kids.” He sighed. “They weren’t wolves in the strict sense. Werewolves is a better term, but they’d lost control. It happens sometimes, whole packs going into a fury, without any rational instinct left. That’s more common amongst werewolves that were turned and not born, if they’ve spent too much time in wolf form. It’s just one at first, but it only takes minutes before the entire pack is like that. I guess that’s how they sensed our presence.”

Phil didn’t know what to say. That wasn’t exactly what he had imagined, but he didn’t know what he had thought either. He remembered farmers had talked about wolves bothering them two years ago, but he hadn't realized they could've caused problems to the elves as well. Not that he even knew they existed, back then. He drank in silence, letting Dan talk.

“It was chaos. Our magicians were quick to react, thankfully, and they confused them enough to make them leave.” He paused for a few seconds. “I should’ve heard them arrive,” he added so quietly Phil almost missed it. “I should’ve heard them coming. But I didn’t. I didn’t and now my parents are dead.”

Phil could’ve sworn he had felt his heart drop in his chest. He shifted, just enough to be able to wrap his arm around Dan’s back and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Dan, it wasn’t your fault. I’m so, so sorry that happened, but I promise it wasn’t your fault.”

Dan brought up his knees against his chest, an arm around them, and leaned against Phil a little more, so slightly he barely noticed.

“I know,” he said. “None of us could have done anything, anyway. It happened too fast, and they were too strong for us. Elves aren’t really made for fighting, we believe in peace more than anything. But, I guess this kind of things happen. I miss them.”

“I’m sorry,” Phil said again.

Dan shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s fine. I’m fine. It just… hit me suddenly. It happens, sometimes. Dad loved the snow, he would always help the kids to build snow houses first thing in the morning. And then he’d call me to help because there were too many houses to build and he would never be done before dark,” he remembered, a small smile playing on his lips. “And Mum would give warm drinks to everyone and make the kids to go inside for school. They always agreed at the condition that Dad would finish the houses while they were gone.”

“Did he? Finish them, I mean.”

“No,” Dan chuckled. “Even after years of doing that, he still had no idea how any of it worked. Sometimes he managed to finish two or three of them, maybe five if I stayed to help, but never all of them.”

“Didn't you catch a cold though, spending all this time outside in the winter?”

“No,” he shook his head again. “Our immunitary system is different from yours, if I remember correctly. We're more resistant to certain things, weaker to others. I'm sure we would react very badly to the air in your cities, it contains too much pollution for us and we're not used to it.”

“Yeah, that would make sense. I hope you never have to come to one of our cities, it wouldn't be good. Even I have trouble breathing sometimes.”

“Is that why you're spending so much time here?”

It was a different kind of melancholy in his voice this time, and maybe “melancholy” wasn't quite the right word but Phil couldn't think of a better one. Maybe it was closer to disappointment.

“It's part of why I do my job. And part of why I started liking hikes through the woods, yes. Not this particular forest, for the obvious reason that I couldn't walk in,” he added with a smile.

Dan didn't smile back though, his left ear slightly agitated like it always was when he was thinking about something.

“Why do you keep coming back?” he asked after a while. “Is it, what, scientific curiosity? The thrill of the unknown?”

“What? No, Dan,” he paused, searching for words. Was that really what he thought? Had he somehow not realized that Phil felt a hundred times more like he belonged when he was with him than anywhere else? “I come back because I want to. Because you're my friend, and I like you, and I like just… spending time with you. It's scary to be here, because it contradicts everything I thought I knew. Sometimes, every instinct I have is screaming at me to never come back because I still can't understand half of what is happening, and nothing makes sense to me. Scientific curiosity alone wouldn't be enough to keep me around, if anything it would’ve made me talk about all that to my coworkers at the lab. But I didn’t. Because scientific curiosity can only be that powerful, and it’s not enough to keep me here while keeping it a secret. You are.”

Dan looked up to him, and it was the first time Phil could see his eyes since they had sat down, and they were soft, so soft he couldn't tell if his skin felt warm because of the fire or because of something else, that he couldn't quite identify. Or maybe he didn't want to think about it, not now, not right now. Maybe he would think about it later, to the point where he wouldn't be able to sleep for the major part of the night, until the sun were to rise again. Maybe Dan understood then, because he smiled, brightly enough that the corners of his mouth dug into the marks on his cheeks, and he brought his hand up to his shoulder where Phil's was still and pressed it lightly.

“Thank you,” Dan said. “I'm sorry it is scary, though.”

Phil smiled back.

“It's fine. I'm getting used to it. And I'm still here, aren't I?”

“Yeah. You are.”

Dan looked back in front of him and put his head on Phil's shoulder. Phil looked down at him, tempted to rest his cheek on his hair but deciding not to, and wondered if he could hear his heart beating a little too loud.

They stayed that way for a while, just listening to the comforting sound of the fire crackling and the embers dancing in the fireplace.

"Is it why you stayed here when the others left?” Phil spoke up eventually. “Your parents, I mean.”

“Yes. They're buried under the tree over there, and I just… I couldn't leave with the others.”

“How long have you been there by yourself?”

“About… a year? They left at the end of spring. I'm not really by myself though, there are people passing by sometimes. Not that often, but it's still better than nothing, I guess,” he shrugged.

Phil drank a little bit of tea, before putting the glass down. It was cold now, and the sweetness had faded slightly, letting the bitterness take over.

*

As soon as Phil closed his apartment’s door behind him, he walked over to the living room and let himself fall on the couch. Everything was a mess, and he didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about anything, he just wanted to sleep and forget about everything that was going on inside his brain right now. Sometimes, he wished he would’ve known how much his life would change because of walking into that forest before he did. But at the same time, he was glad he hadn’t known because despite everything, he was still incredibly glad to have met Dan, even if it meant getting a headache every time he tried wrapping his mind around all that he’d told and showed him that couldn’t make sense in Phil’s world.

He looked out the window. The snow had stopped falling, and there likely wouldn’t be anything left in the morning. It would just feel like a dream without nothing to prove it had happened. But Phil was still haunted by Dan’s expression in front of that tree. He looked so lost and hopeless, and Phil told himself that he never wanted to see him like that again. He only wanted him to be happy, and he knew even the brightest sun got covered by clouds again, and maybe today had been an eclipse, but even an eclipse’s darkness didn’t last forever. And he would always do everything he could to help the sun come back again, for as long as Dan let him stay with him. He knew he’d be okay. He knew it would all be alright.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter warning: drinking mentions

Phil knew it was probably a bad idea as soon as he read the text Lila had sent him, inviting David and him to grab a drink and something to eat that evening. She had claimed they only saw each other at work, and she wanted to get them to do something different for once. It was Sunday, and just as he had said, the snow was already completely gone. But he accepted, thinking it could be a good thing to get out of his mind for a little while. He didn’t plan on drinking too much anyway, he just wanted a change of atmosphere from his flat, for once.

Lila had said she’d come pick him up first, then they’d go get David and go to the bar. From what Phil knew, Lila actually didn’t live far from the bar and she offered to let them stay the night in the event where none of them would be able to drive. He doubted that would be the case, but he still preferred to know that was an available option. 

He got the text that Lila was waiting outside, so he grabbed his coat and keys and left the flat, taking the stairs down. He could’ve taken the elevator but it was so infuriatingly slow, he only used it when he was particularly tired or lazy, and it usually made him so frustrated that he’d swear he wouldn’t use it even again. Until the next time. Maybe he needed to work on his resolutions, but really he was the only one bothered by it anyway.

He briefly wondered what Dan was doing as he pushed the door and walked outside, looking for Lila’s car. He was probably reading one of his books, seriously how did he have that many books? Phil was sure he couldn’t have read them all, the bookshelves were almost bending under the weight, it was getting ridiculous. He shook his head and walked to Lila, that he just spotted. He had lost enough sleep last night, his mind racing until the first rays of the sun fell through his window, he wasn’t going to rethink everything now.

He opened the car's door and sat down, smiling back at Lila.

“Hey,” she said. “Bad night?”

“Can you tell?”

“Oh yeah, I think everyone could. No offense, but you don't look too good.”

Phil scoffed. “I guess that's what I get for pulling an all nighter.”

She studied his expression for a few seconds.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really, no,” he shook his head. “Thanks.”

“Alright, as you wish. Let's go get David before he thinks we've abandoned him,” she smiled, starting the car.

The drive to David's wasn't long, and Lila had put on some music. It wasn't too late, maybe eight, but it was already pretty dark, and it felt weird to drive through the street in that atmosphere.

He kept finding himself in weird atmospheres lately, he thought. And as much as he liked it, it was getting pretty tiring. He just needed a moment to settle down and sleep, and then think about it with his head clear. He kept telling himself he would think about it, but he didn't even know what to think about. He still had so many interrogations and questions about everything, and he just wanted some calm and quiet for a while. 

It wasn't long before they had picked up David and arrived to the bar. They all ordered something to eat, and they started talking. They talked about nothing and everything, and Phil was starting to feel a bit lighter. It was nice to spend the evening out for once, he wasn't usually really one to go out by himself.

And maybe after a while, they had all had a few more drinks that initially planned.

“And when I saw her I was like… God I'm  _ so gay. _ Funniest thing is, after that I realized I had so many crushes on girls that I didn't realize, so yeah. Thanks Amelie from high school for making me realize I was a massive lesbian,” Lila added with a laugh.

Phil laughed with her, and David smiled.

“I mean, it's a bit different for me but after I realized I wasn't cis it was like… suddenly things started making sense, y’know? Like “holy shit. I'm a guy. I'm a guy that likes guys. I'm a gay guy!”,” he laughed.

They all laughed together. It was funny to know that none of them were straight and that they had somehow ended up working together. It was nice to be able to laugh about all that without having to explain that, yeah, he was pan and ace and, no, he wasn't “really just straight” or “making that up”.

“You've been awfully quiet tonight, Phil,” Lila said. “Everything's alright?”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “Just… thinking about stuff.”

“Anything we could help you with?” David asked.

Phil looked at his glass for a second. He knew he couldn't afford to say too much, but he also really wanted to talk to someone about it. 

“No, it's fine,” he smiled. “Thank you, though.”

They did end up at Lila’s place after that. They had all agreed that driving would certainly not be safe, so they found themselves walking in the poorly-lit streets until they arrived to the apartment. Phil had offered to take the couch in the living room to let David have the guest room, he said he was a light sleeper anyway. He wasn't that much of a light sleeper actually, it was more that he wasn't sure he would even be able to sleep.

It must've been around one in the morning when he stumbled on the balcony, the crisp air hitting him a little too hard with only his t-shirt on. He probably shouldn't stay out for too long, but he was already feeling his eyes welling up and the pain in his throat  and he didn't want to attract attention.

Fuck.

He shouldn't have drank that much. Alcohol tended to mess with his brain, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

He leaned against the barrier, head hanging low and looking down at the street, absentmindedly staring at the lampposts and the few cars passing by, the motor sounds troubling the quiet of the night. His brain was numb, nothing felt real anymore. He wasn't even drunk, tipsy at most, but that was enough to make him way too emotional. 

A sob wracked his body suddenly, and he closed his eyes, pressing the heels of his hands over them, breathing too quickly to be able to calm down enough. He had left his glasses inside, on the table near the couch. Another sob, then two, three, and he was full on crying on the balcony, a hand over his mouth to muffle the sounds. He wasn’t even sure  _ why _ he was crying.

It must’ve looked ridiculous, really. A grown man alone on a balcony, crying in the cold at one in the morning, for no apparent reason. Yeah, that was stupid. He felt stupid. He wished he could just stop crying and go to sleep, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen soon. 

He just… fuck. He just wished things didn’t have to be this complicated. He wished he could ramble about Dan to Lila like he would about anyone he had a crush on (because, hell, he  _ had _ a crush on Dan, he couldn’t pretend otherwise anymore. And a serious one at that. He didn’t know at what point he’d fallen so deep but there was no way out now). But he knew he couldn’t, because a lot of what made Dan… well,  _ Dan _ , was also what could potentially put him in danger. He didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t risk being an issue, apart from the generic “he’s funny and cute and nice and holy shit, his smile makes my brain turn to mush” because, Dan was all that but he was also _ so much more _ than that. He was so different from everyone Phil knew, and not only because he was an elf, but also for the way he seemed to capture the light in his smile and how his eyes always seemed to hold more that he let it show, and how excited he was to show Phil something he enjoyed. He was… so different from that lonely elf prince Phil had met all those weeks ago, and Phil just wanted to talk to him for hours, and not just once a week. God, it felt like torture sometimes. And it wasn't fair. 

And he knew Dan had done just fine before meeting him anyway, so he totally could do without him, but that wasn't the question. He  _ wanted _ to be here and to be able to help however he could, even if it was just by sitting with him in front of the fireplace because he didn't know what else he could do.

He looked up at the horizon after a while - ten minutes? fifteen? he didn't know much much time had passed. Everything was blurry after the first row of buildings in front of him, and it felt strangely appropriate. He couldn't see shit, literally and figuratively. His breathing still was a little too quick, every air intake shaky, but the tears had mostly stopped. He needed to do something, that couldn't keep on going like that.

He heard a noise behind him, and quickly wiped his face before looking. Lila was standing at the door, and even in the dark Phil could see the worried look on her face.

“Hey,” she said. “Need some company?”

He nodded and she walked up next to him.

“Want to talk about it?”

So he told her. Not everything, of course and he changed a few details, but he told her enough that she could understand the situation he was in, having fallen so deeply for a guy he couldn't see that much, and probably could never be with for a variety of reasons. She listened to him, letting him stop when he needed to collect his thoughts for a second.

“Phil,” she said after he was done talking. “You can't… you're going to have to talk to him about all that, you know. You can't keep that to yourself forever - I mean, look at you. And you haven't told me much about him, but he seems like a good guy. You need to talk to him, so you can clear things up together.”

“I know,” Phil sighed. “I'll try. I just… don't want to screw things up, you know?”

Lila smiled. “I know. But talking about it can't do any harm, and it certainly cannot be worse than how it is now. Okay? Promise me you'll try, at least.”

“I will. Thanks Lila.”

“My pleasure,” she smiled again. “That’s what friends are for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone so much for reading! i hope you liked it, feel free to talk to me on tumblr @ wavydanrises !


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to vicky (parentaladvisorybullshitcontent) for putting up with me while I wrote this chapter, you're the real mvp

The air was surprisingly warmer that day, it would almost be too warm to be comfortable if it hadn't been for the light breeze passing through the trees. Phil had been buried under work that week, which had been a welcome way to distract himself. He was glad he had gotten to talk with Lila though. It had helped.

He was feeling a lot calmer now, making his way through the woods with the birds chirping and a few splashes of colour on the ground where flowers were appearing. It was hard to believe it was heavily snowing just a week ago. As much as he liked the snow, it was nice to feel the soft caress of the sun on his cheeks instead of the harsh bite of the wind. 

He walked under the willow’s branches and stepped in the glade, spotting Dan immediately. It was funny to see him without his long grey coat, and with just a green shirt that didn't cover his arms, and was letting out all the marks from his shoulders to his wrists. He was opening the windows on the side of the cabin, and Phil walked up to him. Dan looked up at him, a smile taking over his face, and pulled him into a hug. Alright then.

“You're early,” Dan pointed out.

Phil chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. What's the hug for?”

He was almost sure Dan's arms had tightened their embrace around his neck, so slightly he barely noticed.

“I missed you,” he answered in a falsely sad voice. “And I wanted to say thank you, for last time. I'm sorry I put you in that situation, but I'm glad you were here, in a way.”

“Hey, no,” Phil stepped back, Dan's hands trailing along his arms before falling back at his sides. “Don't apologize, there's no need for that, alright?”

Dan grinned. “Yeah. Thank you. Come on, I wanted to show you something now that you're here!” he added, grabbing his wrist and pulling him behind him.

Phil smiled. Yeah, he felt a lot calmer now. There really wasn't that much to worry about, he thought. Dan was Dan, and he felt safe enough with him. And he knew things would be alright. 

*

“Stop moving!” Dan complained. “I'm trying to work there.”

Phil bit his lip to hide a smile. “Sorry.”

Dan looked up from the shirt he was fixing and pointed the needle at Phil's nose.

“You're making a terrible helper here, I would like you to know I'm starting to regret asking you to hold it for me.”

Phil laughed at that, and Dan's face broke in a grin. They were both sat on the carpet next to one of the bookshelves, sunshine pouring from the open windows.

“I'm sorry. I promise I'm trying!”

“Well, you're doing a bad job at trying,” Dan's smile grew larger. “Okay, we're taking a break before I accidentally stab you with that needle.”

“Good idea, I'd appreciate that thank you.”

Dan just shook his head and took the shirt from his hands, setting it aside. Phil let himself fall on his back.

“It's so warm,” he complained. “How the hell is it so warm? It was snowing a week ago!”

“Welcome to the joys of spring,” he heard Dan laugh. “It is getting a bit  _ too _ warm though, I'll agree on that. It was alright as long as there was some air, but now it's almost suffocating. You know what though, I do know somewhere if you want to have a swim.”

Phil sat up suddenly. “I would love to. Please. I'm dying here.”

Dan smiled and offered him his hand.

“You'll like it, it's a really pretty place.”

Phil took his hand and let Dan help him get back up. 

“I sure hope so, I'd hate to be disappointed now.”

“You won't be!” Dan pulled Phil after him to get out of the house. “You can trust me on that one.”

*

Phil didn't remember walking through that side of the forest before, but he wasn't sure he could trust his orientation skills that much. It was pleasant, though, and he was trying to focus on the birds chirping in the trees and the branches cracking under his steps rather than on Dan's hand that was still holding his. They didn't walk for too long, maybe fifteen minutes, but it already felt more comfortable to be in the shade of the trees with a slight breeze than on Dan's floor, even with all the windows open. The glade was always basked in sunlight, and the air got warm pretty quickly.

“We're almost there,” Dan said. “You see that cave entry over there? That's where we're going. The floor might be a bit slippery though, I'll stay behind in case you slip on it.”

“You know, coming from anyone else, that would be very sketchy,” Phil pointed out with a smile.

Dan chuckled, squeezing his hand a little. “Oh no, you've discovered my evil plan, what am I going to do now!”

Phil laughed and bumped his shoulder. “Shut up or I'm leaving.”

“As if!”

Phil was about to reply when Dan tugged on his hand.

“Look, this way.”

Phil's hand felt weirdly cold when he let Dan's go to walk into the cave. It wasn't that dark, but the floor did look treacherous.

“It's not far,” Dan said. “Just keep going ahead, you can't miss it. I'm right behind you anyway.”

Phil nodded and started walking, his right hand trailing along the wall for stability. Or reassurance, really. He wasn't sure holding the wall would make any difference if he slipped, but it still made him feel a little better. He was focusing on his steps more than on anything else, trying to walk on the places that seemed safer than the rest and avoiding the water trickling on the ground. All that he could hear were droplets of water falling down and Dan's steps behind him. It was already a bit cooler than the air outside. He didn't know exactly how long it took before he looked up again and, instead of the same corridor, saw the path getting larger as it entered some kind of cave-room where the ground slowly descended until it was covered by water. It was a pretty big space from what he could see, maybe half as big as the glade, maybe even bigger. 

Only then did he notice that he could see strangely well, and the cave wasn't nearly as dark as he would've expected it to be. It was basked in some blue light, but he couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. He turned around to ask Dan what that light was, and suddenly lost all ability to speak. 

_ Dan  _ was the source of the light. His marks were, more exactly. He'd taken off his boots and shirt, revealing more marks along his chest and ribs, and they were blue. They were  _ glowing blue _ .

And if he had been falling in the brown of Dan’s eyes before, he had just reached the end of the fall and he knew there was no way he was getting out of it now. He had fallen too fast and too deep and, to his own surprise, he was okay with that. 

Dan grinned, the glow of his marks reflecting on his cheekbones.

“Come on, I thought you wanted to swim? Your loss, really, the water is always nice.”

He ran past him and jumped in the water, far enough that he was sure it’d be deep enough and he wouldn’t hurt himself, projecting water all around. He also had three blue dots along his spine. He resurfaced a few feet away and shook his head a little with a laugh, before starting to float on his back. 

It took Phil a second or two before he was able to move again, and tossed away his shoes and shirt and carefully walked towards the water. It’d be just like him to slip and fall over and break his leg now, of all times. Dan was right though, the water was just cool enough to be a relief from the temperature outside without being too cold. He could see the glow of the water reflecting on the rock ceiling in intricate and moving shapes, the ripple’s sounds echoing under the vault, and nothing felt…  _ real _ . He wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he suddenly woke up in his bed. But Dan swam up to him and smiled and suddenly, nothing had ever felt so real than this exact moment.

“Hey,” Dan said.

“Hey.”

“Told you you wouldn’t be disappointed. Are you?”

“No! Not at all. I’m surprised, but in a good way.”

Dan smiled and his eyes had that strange blue undertone from the light, and Phil wondered if his looked any different, or if they still had that weird blue-green colour, mixed with a bit of grey.

“Your eyes look so blue,” Dan marvelled and got a little closer, as if he’d heard Phil’s thoughts just a second ago. “Even more than usual. It’s funny, I didn’t think they could get get a lot bluer, but they did.”

Phil was lost for words, feeling like an asteroid whose trajectory had changed suddenly, and was drawn towards the Sun instead of staying in its orbit. And he thought, fuck it.

“Can I kiss you?”

Dan's eyes went wide for a second, and his cheeks might've gone slightly red, but Phil couldn't really tell under the blue light. 

“Yes,” he said in a breath.

So Phil leaned in, bringing up a hand to cup Dan's neck. He could taste the water on his lips. Dan ran a thumb across his cheek, before pulling away.

“I never noticed you had a scar there,” he said, lightly running his fingers along it again. “How did you get that?”

Phil smiled. “It faded enough that you can't really see it, but it's a lot less exciting than it probably looks like.”

“Come on,” Dan poked his cheek. “You can't just say that! I'm curious now.”

Phil chuckled. “When I was around 22, we had to spend some time in observation in a greenhouse, and I might've tripped on a hose laying around and fallen onto a stake.”

Dan burst out laughing, and let his head fall on Phil's shoulder, letting all kind of butterflies free to fly against Phil's ribs.

“You're unbelievable,” he managed to say after a bit, when his laughter had died down a little. “How are you even still alive?”

Phil shrugged. “Who knows honestly. I think I've just been lucky.”

Dan looked up at him and menacingly waved a finger in front of him.

“Well, be careful now. You literally fell on your head the first time we met, you're a walking disaster.”

Phil laughed again. “You remember that? I hoped you had forgotten about it now.”

“How could I? Someone's got to look after you.”

Phil just smiled and shook his head. “I'm getting cold, I think I'm going to get out.”

“You're right, it's getting pretty chilly,” Dan nodded. “Let's go outside.”

*

They had gone back to the glade, lying down on the grass and letting the sun slowly dry their hair and clothes. Phil took Dan's hand and lifted his arm above him, softly tracing the mark on his wrist with the tips of his fingers. It was back to its regular black colour. Dan let out a quiet chuckle.

“I didn't know they turned blue,” Phil said. “Do they all do that?”

“They all glow in the dark, yes. The colour depends though, it varies from one elf to another. My mum's were blue as well, and my dad's were green.”

“I like the blue ones. It gave your eyes a pretty glow.”

Dan giggled and closed his hand around Phil's.

“Mmh, thank you dear, you're nice.”

“My pleasure,” Phil brought Dan's up to his lips and dropped a kiss on his knuckles, making him chuckle again.

Dan rolled and propped himself up on an elbow, and kissed Phil's cheek on his scar before nestling against his side.

“What was that for?” Phil asked.

“Nothing,” Dan shrugged. “I'm happy you're here. And that you trust me.”

“Yeah, of course I do. I'm glad I'm here too. You're pretty cool, I guess.”

“Wow, I'm so deeply touched by that compliment, thank you,” Dan replied, the sarcasm so heavy it seemed to hang in the air for a moment.

Phil just laughed and he felt Dan smile against his shoulder, and he couldn't remember ever feeling better than he was at this exact moment, with the sunlight caressing his skin and the birds singing somewhere in the forest.

“You look tired,” Dan said eventually. “Busy week?”

Phil hummed. “I was helping a friend with classes all week, to give them an idea of what we actually do once we get out of school. I like doing interventions like that, but it's tiring when it gets on top of everything else.”

“That's nice, though! Were they interested?”

“Most of them, yes,” he laughed. “They had a lot of questions as well, I can never think of everything beforehand.”

“Do you do that often? Talking to students, I mean.”

“When I'm asked to, mostly. I know a few colleagues who ask me from times to times because we haven't specialized in the same field and they'd like to present mine to their students as well. So, not that often. A couple times a year, maybe.”

“Sounds nice. And interesting. I'm glad you like it, it's always better to enjoy what you're doing instead of just having to do it.”

“Yeah, that's true. I've been lucky so far.”

He really had been lucky, he thought, looking down at Dan's head on his shoulder. He had a job he liked, with nice people, and he was there with Dan. He buried his head in Dan's hair, making him laugh.

Yeah, things couldn't have been better than how they were right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading and sticking with me so far, I hope you liked today's chapter! feel free to come talk to me on tumblr @ wavydanrises


	7. Chapter 7

These last weeks had been nice. With the return of nicer and longer days, Phil spent more time outside, collecting samples and taking notes, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He was going to stop at the lab to end the day, and maybe stop to see Dan for a while before it got dark. That was another good point of the days getting longer.

“Hey, Phil!” Lila greeted him when he walked in the room. “Long time no see.”

“Hey,” he smiled. “I think I'm slowly becoming a creature of the forest, that's why I'm back here. Maybe human contact can prevent me from turning into a tree or something. I saw David a few days ago, told me you weren't feeling well, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I probably just caught something, but I'm better now, thanks. Do you have anything else to do here or did you just stop for a chat?”

“Just need to put a few samples in the other room - did you get the email I sent yesterday?”

“Yeah, I asked Noah about the survey but I haven't gotten any answer yet. I'm sure we'll hear back from him by Monday. Any plans for this weekend?”

Phil smiled. “I'm going to stop at Dan's tonight before going home if I can, but I'll see him tomorrow anyway.”

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, leaning on her desk.

“How are things going between you two, by the way? Have you talked to him? I haven't had time to ask you about it, you disappeared into the woods for two weeks.”

Phil laughed. “Yeah, we've talked. And, well, we're dating now.”

It had been a bit over a month, actually, but he hadn't felt like talking about it at first, he wanted to keep it just for them for a little while. And then, he hadn't seen Lila a lot these last few weeks.

“Hell yeah! Told you you had to talk to him.”

She held her hand up, waiting for Phil to give her a high-five, which he did with a bright smile on his face. 

“Come on, go put these samples where they should be and get out of here,” she said, looking back at her computer. “I just need to finish with these results and I'll be on my way as well.”

Phil nodded and walked up to the next room, opening his bag to put all the carefully labeled samples in the correct boxes. He checked one last time that everything was alright, before heading out, saying goodbye to Lila on the way and smiling when she yelled “tell him I said hi!”.

*

The forest was closer to the lab than to his apartment, and it didn't take long before he started recognizing the trees. He had spent enough time around here to know his way around now. He was almost as familiar with all the trees and flowers standing here as he was with the way the rooms were arranged in his own flat. It was a little strange, maybe, but it was nice. It really was nice. Something on his right caught his eye, and he turned his head to see a blue starfall emerging from the leaves and grass. Phil smiled. He still hadn't decided if he believed it was a sign of something about to change or not, but it still reminded him of the first time he walked into that forest.

Maybe it didn't matter whether it was true or not. Things happened for a reason, and surely seeing a flower or not seeing it wasn't going to change much. It was still probably the prettiest flower Phil had seen in his life of studying them, with such a unique and deep colour that it almost seemed… impossible that it could exist in the wild. And yet it did, and it was beautiful.

“Hey,” a voice suddenly said behind him, making him jump and turn around.

"Dan! Stop scaring me like that,” he said, a hand over his heart for dramatic effect.

Dan laughed and walked up to him, putting his arms around Phil's neck and pecking his cheek.

“Sorry, didn't mean to. I thought you heard me.”

“Mhmm. You're lucky you're cute,” Phil mumbled before leaning down to kiss him.

Dan smiled, of that smile that was so soft that it made Phil's heart melt just a little bit every time.

“Careful there, you're going to make me think you like me or something.”

Phil chuckled and buried his face in Dan's curls.

“God, I love you,” he said quietly.

It hit him that they hadn't said that to each other yet, and his heart almost skipped a beat when Dan shifted away a little, only to calm back down when he saw the look in his eyes and the way he stroked his cheek gently.

“Love you too,” he said, before leaning in to kiss Phil again.

*

“I'm glad you could stop by today,” Dan said, not looking up from the bundle of tea leaves he was making. “But you look quite tired, maybe you should head home.”

Phil let his head fall on his shoulder. It was a few hours after when he'd intended to leave, but he hadn't found enough willpower to do so, so there he was still. He'd been trying to read one of his books while sitting next to him on the carpet, but the letters kept getting mixed up in front of his eyes.

“Yeah, probably. But I'm lazy,” he complained.

Dan chuckled and gently nudged his arm.

“You can spend the night here, if you want,” he suggested. “That'd spare you the way back in the dark.”

“Really?” he looked up. “I don't want to bother, I think I'll survive the walk.”

“Of course you wouldn't bother, I wouldn't have offered if it was the case. It's already getting dark anyway, and you look like you're about to fall asleep on me. Come on,” he added as he stood up, before offering Phil a hand to help him get up as well. “Sleeping early won't be a bad thing for me either, for once. You can have the bed and I’ll just take the chair, if you want, I don’t mind.”

“Nah come on, we can just share the bed, it’s fine,” Phil assured him as he took off his glasses and set them aside on the table. “Come over here.”

Dan smiled and lightly poked his shoulder to make him move. Phil really was exhausted. He didn't know why exactly, maybe it was just spending more time outside than usual, but he started dozing off as soon as his head hit the pillow, Dan's arms around him.

“Thank you. You're the best,” he mumbled.

He heard Dan chuckle. “I know. Go to sleep.”

He brought his hand up to play with Phil's hair, and it only took a few minutes before he fell asleep.

*

Thunder.

That's what woke him up. It was probably the middle of the night still, the room basked in that faint blue glow he'd learn to recognize as the one coming from Dan's marks, everything blurred because he didn’t have his glasses on and contributing to the eerie atmosphere. He looked over to Dan, fast asleep, his hair a mess of blue curls. He briefly wondered if the light ever bothered him at to fall asleep, before thunder erupted again.

He stood up and walked to the window, opening the curtains just a little to get a glimpse of what was happening outside. It was raining heavily, and another blinding blast of light struck, closely followed by thunder. He usually liked thunderstorms and lightning, but he had to admit, he wasn't feeling particularly calm, knowing the lighting couldn't have struck very far from here. Staying in the woods was scarier than he'd imagined. He heard shuffling behind him, then steps, and Dan put his chin on his shoulder. Phil could just barely see their reflection on the window’s glass, troubled by the rain.

“You're up early,” Dan mumbled, making him smile a little.

“Thunder,” Phil said. “It's not far.”

“Mmh. Can't hit us, if that worries you. There's a spell on the house. Permanent one. Can't burn. Now come back to bed, I'm cold.”

Phil chuckled and nodded. God, he was in love with him. 

*

Phil had decided that lazy mornings in bed were his favourite. The rain had stopped before they woke up, and they had been lying there for an hour or two maybe, Dan’s head on his chest.

“You said you were a prince,” Phil said, finally asking something he'd been wondering about. “That means your dad was the king, right?”

“Yes, but as I told you there's no real meaning to it. I'm not prince of anything right now,” he chuckled, “but it wouldn't change much anyway, it's an honorary title more than anything. I'm just the same as everyone else. The monarch has a role a bit more important, but not that special either, really.”

“But you should be the king now, right? Or the monarch.”

“Monarch, yes,” Dan smiled. “And yeah, I should be. I refused the title when I refused to leave this forest. My parents were the only ones hurt during the attack, because they put themselves on the first line to give the magicians enough time to react, so I was the only one with a reason to stay, really. All the others wanted to run away, which I could understand, but I couldn't go with them. And I couldn't  _ not  _ go with them if I was monarch so, I refused. I'm not sure everyone understood why, they've tried to make me change my mind but, well. I wasn't exactly disposed to listen to anyone I guess. And one day they left. I'm not even sure of where they went.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Sometimes. I mean, I grew up with them, it was weird to be alone at first.”

Phil pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“I'm sorry. I wish I could've been here.”

“Don't be, it's fine. Really,” he insisted, with a little laugh. “I got used to it after a while, it was just… different. I mean, it was probably a stupid idea to just stay here by myself and I knew that, but I just… couldn't leave. I wasn’t completely alone though, there have been a couple of fairies and other people walking by sometimes. I'm glad you came in when you did, though.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Alright, I think it's time to get up now,” Dan said as he sat up, after a moment. 

“Nooo, don’t leave me!” Phil pretended to throw his arm out in desperation.

Dan laughed and leaned in to kiss him.

“I’m not going very far dear, I think you’ll be just fine.”

*

The sun might’ve been out and shining for a while now, but everything still smelled of the rain. The odor of the moss was almost violent for Phil, crouched down to look at a few flowers on the ground. They looked a lot like regular ones, but something seemed off and he couldn’t pinpoint what he was. He sighed and got up, grimacing when he felt his knees crack. He should know better than that by now, but hey. Bad habits were hard to get rid off. He walked back to the glade, just a few feet away, where Dan was working on stitching up one of his shirts.

“Need help with that?”

Dan looked up and smiled. “No, thanks, I’m almost done.”

Phil sat down next to him without saying anything for a few seconds.

“Hey,” he spoke up eventually. “You know quite a lot about humans, right? How come?”

“My parents were pretty much fascinated by them, to be honest. I know they’ve gone out of the forest a few times, but that was years ago. They had lots of books about humans. You know, you’re kinda like myths for us, except that we know you’re real.” He shrugged. “I guess I just picked up some of the stuff they were saying over time. For example, I know we’re way faster than you, in general.”

“That’s not true,” Phil replied. “How could you know that? Did you run tests? I’m sure you just made that up right now.”

Dan laughed. “You don’t believe me? Try catching up with me then!”

He had barely finished talking before he jumped up, tossing his shirt aside and running towards the forest.

“Hey, not fair! That’s cheating!” Phil complained, standing up to run after him.

He was definitely not much of a runner, he did spent quite some time in hikes, but he wasn’t a good runner. That being said, he couldn’t let Dan just make things up and expect him to believe it. Although, it did seem like he was faster than him. Damn it. Dan stopped suddenly and Phil almost ran into him.

“Dan? Everything okay?”

He held a finger over his mouth to ask him to be quiet. His right ear was twitching slightly, and he looked up at Phil after a few seconds.

“There are elves coming this way,” he said quietly. “I think they might be part of my village. Or, old village, rather. You should probably go home.”

“Why? Are you in trouble?” he frowned.

“No, no, don’t worry,” he took his hand. “But I don’t know what they’re here for, and I just want to be able to talk to them without them freaking out over your presence, y’know.”

“Yeah, alright. Don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

Dan smiled. “I won’t. You can come back tomorrow if you want, they should be gone by then. Or, I’ll have talked to them about you. Either way, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

“I’ll do that. See you tomorrow, then.”

He cupped his cheek to kiss him.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” Dan said, looking deeply in Phil’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I just- I don’t know. I don’t want things to get bad here.”

“No, don’t worry, it’s fine! I understand. I’ll come back tomorrow. Good luck with them.”

They hugged for a few seconds more before Phil stepped away and made his way back. He had lots of questions, as always, but he figured he wouldn’t get much of an answer to them before he could ask Dan what all that had been about. He hadn’t been expecting the elves to come back and, apparently, Dan hadn’t been either. Ah, well. Worrying about that now wouldn’t change much.

*

As Phil walked down the path to the forest, he couldn’t shake the weird feeling that had been tugging at the back of his mind since he got out of his flat. Things just seemed… off. Were the woods quieter? He couldn’t tell if they were, or if his imagination was playing tricks on him, but he didn’t like that. He didn’t like that at all. He walked a little faster, not convinced it would change anything, but unable to slow down anyway. 

When he got to the glade, after stepping under the willow’s branches, the feeling only got stronger. The house’s windows were closed, which was strange for such a warm day, despite the grey clouds. He walked up to it, and knocked. There was no answer, but the door opened slightly. He frowned, but entered.

It was empty. Not  _ entirely _ empty, the table and chairs were still there with other pieces of furniture, but enough for him to know. All the books had disappeared, as well as everything that used to throne one the mantelpiece. 

Dan was gone. He had left with the other elves.

He was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading! don't hesitate to leave a comment, or check @ wavydanrises on tumblr and @ starhowll on twitter for updates!


	8. Chapter 8

Phil had tried blaming his lack of sleep on the coffee, and too much coffee on work stress. But he knew that wasn't true. Truth was, he was lost. He just… couldn't believe it. He kept thinking that he would have understood if Dan had chosen to go back with the other elves, but he would've told him, right? Or left a note at least, anything. Or maybe he was just trying to convince himself. But it just… didn't really make sense. Dan told him to come back the next day, so why would he just… leave, without saying anything? Things didn't add up.

Lila and David had noticed he didn't look at his best these last few days, but he just said work was stressing him out. Which was true, actually, there was an issue with some results that didn't match the others at all, and that normally would've made him awfully stressed but right now, he had other things on his mind.

It was Thursday, and he had just gotten home from the lab. He sighed. He couldn't stop thinking of the blue starfall he saw before going to see Dan that day, maybe he should've known something was going to happen. Dan might not believe in that, but Phil did, sort of. He hadn't fully decided yet, but he couldn't help but notice how he'd seen one every time something had changed.

Maybe it was just stupid.

He walked to the living room and sat on the couch, turning on the TV more for background noise than anything else. None of it made any sense. He had debated stopping at the glade today again, but he had decided against it. If he was only going to leave for two or three days, Dan wouldn’t have brought half of his house with him. He sighed again, frustrated, and got up to make himself a cup of tea. He was only asking himself the same questions , over and over again. There was no use to it, he wouldn’t find any answer this way.

And it wasn’t as if he could’ve talked about it to Lila either, why would he even say? “Hey, my elf boyfriend disappeared the day after the elves from his old village without leaving a note or anything, what do you think I should do?” Yeah, that was stupid. 

He stared angrily at his cup of tea for a while. 

He couldn't stop thinking that it didn't look like Dan, at all. He wanted to think he knew him enough by now to know that he wouldn't just disappear like that. A thought occurred to him suddenly, making him set his cup aside on the table.

What if they had forced him to come with them? That could make sense, actually. Dan hadn't seemed to know why they were coming here, so maybe it had been to convince him to come back with the village, for some reason. That would explain it. But that still didn't tell him where they had gone.

But he had to find Dan. He needed to know what had happened - and perhaps help him come back to the glade if needed. Who knew what would happen, really.

He decided he'd start working on it that weekend. Lila and David still counted on him to do his job on Friday and besides, he didn't really have a plan yet. Not even the beginning of an idea, if he was completely honest. How do you start looking for your missing boyfriend when he's probably in the middle of a forest somewhere? That was going to be funny.

*

Saturday arrived quickly enough, and by that time Phil had a vague idea of how he should proceed. First of all, they probably hadn't gone too far. They had moved from the glade because they had been attacked, he doubted they would've gone to the other side of the country. He had spotted a few forests that could probably be the ones where the elves were. Going through them all would take more time than this weekend alone, but he should be able to do it in two weeks, or maybe even less. 

He felt better now that he had something to go. Walking in circles in the flat was starting to get old, and it made him more upset than anything.

*

The first weekend hadn't been of any luck. He hadn't found anything where he had gone, and the forests weren't even particularly pretty. Or maybe he wasn't taking the time to appreciate them enough.

It was the next Sunday morning, and he still had a last forest to visit after the one he was standing in front of. He was almost starting to regret living in an area with so many woods around. He sighed and walked inside…

… and found himself at the exact same place, half an hour later. He frowned. Either he suddenly had amnesia, or that was the notorious spell magicians cast to avoid anyone getting in their forest. Which was a good sign, but also a problem he hadn't thought off. What could he do if he couldn't get inside? Maybe if he _knew_ there was a spell, he could still manage to get in? That was worth a shot.

A little more than two hours later, he was still at the same point. No matter how much he tried, nothing had worked. He was sat on a stump at the edge of the forest, wondering if it was worth trying one last time or if he should just… give up. He sighed, and heard something moving in the bushes hidden under the trees. He stood up to try and see what that was.

“Hello?” he called out.

“Phil?”

He frowned and was about to say something when Dan walked out of the shade and walked up to him quickly, before pulling him into a hug. Phil buried his head in his hair.

“Thank- how did you find me? Talem told me he'd erased your memories, what a shithead, I shouldn't have believed him.”

“Is that even possible?” 

“I don't know,” Dan sighed. “Probably. I don't know much about magic, you know.”

“Why did you leave?”

Dan took a step back.

“They said they needed my help, that without the monarch at the head of the village it was just impossible to get anything done correctly. I said no, at first, that they could just… choose a new monarch if they needed to, but that's not how things work.” He sighed. “It's a long story. But then Talem told me that he had erased all memories concerning elves from your memory and I- I couldn't have handled being alone there again. I shouldn't have believed him,” he closed his eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“Hey,” Phil said, stepping closer. “It's fine. Just… don't do that again, alright? Or at least leave a note or something.”

Dan opened his eyes and smiled, before taking another step closer and leaning in to give him a kiss.

“I promise.”

They sat on a large flat rock for a while.

“How did you know I was there?” Phil asked, breaking the silence.

“Nea told me someone was trying to get in. They’re the one who cast the spell. I didn’t think anything of it, people come around sometimes, but they don’t tend to try to get in several times,” Dan smiled. “So I decided to go and see what was going on over here.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” Phil admitted. “I was sure you were here, but I couldn’t get inside, so I’m glad you did.”

Dan laughed and rested his head on Phil’s shoulder, and they stayed silent for a bit.

“What are you going to do, now?” Phil asked eventually.

Dan shrugged. “I can’t leave them again. It wouldn’t be fair. The monarch’s role is mostly symbolic, but it does allow easier and better communication with other elven villages and other creatures, sometimes. And, I’ve missed them,” he added quietly. “They’re my people, they’re my  _ friends _ , and it wasn’t fair of me to just… abandon them like I did.”

Phil wrapped an arm around Dan’s shoulders and put his chin on his head.

“Y’know, I feel like a botanist could find some things to do in an elven village,” he commented.

“What do you- oh.” Dan sat up and turned to look at him.  “You want to stay? But what about- you have family, you have friends, you can’t just… leave it all.”

“I could work it out,” Phil said. “Besides, it’s not as if I saw my family very often anyway. I’d figure something out.”

Dan studied his face for a moment, trying to read his expression and see if he was serious. His right ear was twitching.

“Are you sure?” he ended up asking. “I mean, you could always change your mind at any point, I just- I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

Phil smiled softly and gently brushed one of Dan’s curls away from his face.

“But I want to. I want to be with you, and if that means being here, then alright. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love you, and as long as you want me around, I’ll stay with you.”

“Alright,” Dan laughed a little and put his arms around his neck. “I hope you’re ready to stay here for a while, I might want you around for a long, long time.”

Phil smiled again, more frankly. “Fine by me,” he said before leaning in to kiss him.

“I love you,” Dan whispered, his forehead still against Phil’s. “So much.”

He sat back up suddenly, looking towards the forest.

“Is something wrong?” Phil asked.

“I heard something,” Dan said. “But I’m not sure what is was.”

Their questions were answered quickly enough, when someone walked out of the forest. From where he was, Phil couldn’t really see what they looked like apart from their brown skin and dark hair cascading down, but he could almost feel an aura, a presence coming from them. 

“Oh, that’s a dryad,” Dan mumbled. “I wonder…”

“Human,” the dryad said when they got close enough. “Rules have been broken by your hand, willingly or not. You must now come with me, you will be tried.”

“Tried? I don’t- hey, wait!” Phil protested as the dryad grabbed him by the arm and pulled him onto his feet, with a surprising strength, before dragging him towards the forest, too quickly for Dan to react.

“I’ll get you out of there,” Dan shouted. “I promise.”

And before Phil had time to understand what was happening, the dryad had his hand on a tree and made them both go through the portal they just created, which led them into a forest completely different from the one they just left. Phil had no idea where they could be.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone for reading, I hope you liked it! next chapter will be up next week, as usual. you can find me me on tumblr @ wavydanrises


	9. Chapter 9

When Phil opened his eyes, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. And then it hit him, just as he was reminded of the last words he heard before losing consciousness, the dryad’s voice saying a single word, “Sleep”, and pressing fingers to his temples and then everything went black. And now he was there, lying on his back and looking at a ceiling covered in moss.

Great.

“Hey, human,” a voice said behind him. “You awake?”

“Shut up, Lahan,” someone else intervened. “You don’t know what he did.”

“I don't know what you did either, Admete,” the first person said calmly.

“But you know me, it’s different! I swear, I'm gonna kick your ass as soon as we get out of here.”

Phil groaned and sat up slowly. The two voices were quiet now and he almost wondered if he had imagined them for a second until his eyes fell on the wall to his left. Or the lack of wall, really, it was closer to the bars of a cell than anything. Behind the ones on his left was… someone. She had short blue hair, deep and almost electric against her black skin and dark eyes, that he couldn't quite tell the colour of from where he was.

“Well, look who's awake,” she said. “Slept well?”

“I thought we didn't know what he did and shouldn't talk to him?” the second voice pointed out from Phil's right, with maybe a hint of amusement.

Phil turned around and faced the person talking. He seemed tall, even hunched on his chair and blonde hair falling in front of his face like it was right now, a lot taller than Phil. And much stronger than him, as well. Suddenly, he was a little bit glad that there was something separating them. He smiled at him, and if his green eyes seemed kind, Phil was almost sure he had seen pointy teeth.

“I’m Lahan,” he said. “And that’s Admete. Don’t let her intimidate you, she’s a lot nicer than what she wants you to think.”

“Hey! Don’t go telling my secrets to the first person you see, come on,” Admete protested.

Lahan only laughed at that. 

“Hang on,” Phil said. “Where are we, exactly? ”

“The dryads’ cells,” Admete answered. “Lysz will come soon to tell you when your trial is, and what you’re being tried for. You’re human, so it probably won’t take long.”

“But- I didn’t do anything,” Phil protested. 

“You did something,” Lahan insisted. “You might not know what it is, but you probably broke a rule or something.”

Phil sighed and covered his face with a hand. What kind of mess had he gotten into, this time?

“What are you here for, then?” he asked.

“I drowned a guy,” Admete said calmly. “What? He kept saying my girlfriend wasn’t a real mermaid because she’s trans, as if I was going to just let that slide. He had it coming, the asshole.”

From the corner of the eye, Phil saw Lahan shaking his head as if he was used to it. He was just trying to wrap his head around the fact that apparently, mermaids were a thing as well. He didn’t know why he was surprised, honestly, he should’ve expected it. Why wouldn’t they be real? Elves and werewolves and fairies were, after all, there was no reason mermaids couldn’t be real too.

“Are you a mermaid too?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Oh no, dear, I’m a naiad. Basically, if mermaids live in the water, I am its spirit. Well, not really because mermaids live almost exclusively in sea water and I’m the spirit of fresh water. But I can live in both. Which is better, because fresh water isn’t too good for mermaids, they have more difficulties to breathe in it, and I like being able to hang out with my girlfriend without one of us being in too much pain, y’know?”

Phil nodded. He could see what she meant.

“And,” Lahan spoke up, “I’ve accidentally hurt a member of my pack when I turned, the other day. And normally that wouldn’t be a problem - it happens all the time, the first minutes after turning are always quite… blurry -, but this particular one didn’t really like me, so he decided to complain, and so here I am.”

So he must be a werewolf, Phil thought.

“That means your trials have already happened, right?” Phil asked.

“Yes,” Lahan said, and Phil briefly wondered if his voice was always that calm. “I have two weeks left here and then I’m out. Admete, it’s a month for you, right?”

She nodded. “Yep. Looks like they punish causing death more than accidentally hurting someone,” she falsely complained.

“A month isn’t that much for killing someone, though,” Phil pointed out.

“Maybe not for you, but it’s a month away from the water for me and it is positively awful. I don’t know how I could describe that so you could understand just how it is, but believe me when I say I’m feeling every second that goes by.”

Phil nodded again. He couldn't really imagine what it was like, but he understood the idea. He wondered how long he would have to wait, and what he had done to end up here. He really had no idea concerning that last point.

“Look, Lysz is coming over here. She must be here for you.”

Phil looked up to see a dryad walking towards them. It wasn’t the one that brought him here, her skin was almost as pale as his.

“Human,” she said once she was close enough. “You have trespassed by entering a land you didn’t own without stating your intentions, and by doing so you have brought danger for the creatures living on that land. It cannot be established whether you have mentioned that place to anybody else. For this, we have decided of your fate. You are sentenced to death by poison. It will be quick and painless, but assure us that you will not cause further trouble. It will happen tomorrow morning."

She turned around and left before Phil could even react. That was bullshit. That had to be bullshit. They couldn't just poison him to death for that, without him getting any chance to change it. Right? He heard Admete sigh on his left, but didn't turn to look at her, eyes stuck on the wall in front of him.

"Even I have to admit that this is excessive," she said. "You might have a chance to make her change her mind, but it's tiny. It's a shame your trial was led by her and not Nrell, they would've been a lot less severe than that. Lysz can be... quick to take harsh decisions. Where were you trying to go?"

"An elven village," he muttered. "My boyfriend is an elf, I was trying to join him."

"If he knows you're here, he might just be able to help you," Lahan intervened, and Phil looked up at him. "I can't guarantee you that it's going to work, but that might just be your way out."

Phil sighed and wiped his face with a hand. He never would've thought he would end up discussing with a naiad and a werewolf whether his elf boyfriend would be able to save him from being poisoned by dryads. He never asked for all of this, all he wanted was just some peace and quiet. This was just... too much. And he only had until the next morning to wrap his head around all that, apparently.

He really just hoped Dan would be able to find him in time.

*

Lahan and Admete had spent the rest of the evening trying to cheer him up a little bit, and keep his mind away from all this nonsense, and he had to admit that they had done a pretty good job at it. It hadn't been easy but he had even managed to get some sleep, which had been a surprise. He didn't tend to sleep well when he was stressed and, well, he was a little more than just stressed right now. "Extremely panicking" would be closer to the truth. They hadn't been able to do much about time passing by, though, and it was the next morning before Phil had even realized it.

Lahan didn't say anything when Nrell - another dryad, he had seen them earlier - came to take him somewhere else, only giving him a tired smile, and Admete brought her face closer to the bars to look at him until she was out of his sight. 

Phil followed Nrell for a while, until they turned around quickly.

"Vlyn has gone to tell the Elf Monarch where you were," they whispered. "She's the one who came to get you, under Lysz's orders. We do not have a say in trials led by another dryad, but he should be able to do something. If he gets there in time."

They turned back just as quickly and started walking again, and Phil had no choice but to follow. It didn't take much longer until they arrived in a large circular room with a roof made of interlaced branches and leaves. He would've been amazed at the beauty and intricacy of it all if he didn't know exactly why he was there. And he sure was not a reason he liked very much. Nrell led him towards Lysz who was standing at the other end of the room, a basket full of strange-looking leaves next to her. Phil couldn't tell what kind of plants they came from, but he was almost sure they were not exactly the friendly-and-safe type. Lysz started talking, he saw her lips move, but he couldn't hear a word she was saying. It was as if his head was deep underwater, all sounds were muffled and hidden by a strange buzzing sound he couldn't seem to get rid of. Maybe his brain had just decided to shut down already, at this point he wouldn't even be surprised. But then, there were muffled footsteps behind him and a voice that pierced the fog around his head and sounded so incredibly clear, and he recognized it immediately. 

"Stop," Dan said.

Phil saw Lysz look up at Dan, but didn’t dare to take a glance behind him.

“Who are you, elf?”

Dan took a few more steps, hand just slightly brushing against Phil’s when he walked past him, until he was standing between him and the dryad.

“My name is Dan, and I am here as the monarch of the elves from the village of the golden forest.”

“What do you seek here, that could have led you to interrupt us?”

“Him,” he said firmly. “He is under my authority. You have no power over him, and this trial is not of your responsibility. You can’t hold him here.”

Lysz tilted her head a little. Phil could barely breathe. He had never seen Dan like that before, head held high and back straight, and he almost felt like he could feel the aura radiating from him, full of assurance and persuasion but also strangely comforting. He was still just Dan, he thought, even when he was trying to convince Lysz of what he was saying.

“Alright,” she said after what felt like hours. “You may leave with him. Everything that could happen is now of your responsibility, and yours alone.”

The wave of relief that washed over Phil was so strong he feared he was going to fall for a second. Dan must’ve been hit by it too, judging by the way his shoulders relaxed suddenly. He nodded, and it was only a matter of minutes before they were both out of here. Dan turned around as soon as they had left the place and put his arms around Phil’s neck, burying his face against his shoulder.

“Took you long enough,” Phil muttered, tightly wrapping his arms around his back.

Dan laughed a little. “Listen, they might be able to create portals in trees, but I can’t do that.” He looked up and brought his hands to cup Phil’s face, resting their foreheads together.  “I was so fucking scared, don’t you ever do that again.”

Phil raised an eyebrow, a small smile on his lips. “You know, there’s hardly anything I could do to get out of here.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” Phil leaned in to kiss him. “It wasn’t your fault either, okay? Besides, your timing for a dramatic entrance was perfect.”

Dan giggled and kissed him again. “I love you. So much.”

“Good,” Phil smiled and tightened his embrace just a little. “Because I’m in love with you.”

Dan smiled and let his head fall back on the crook of Phil’s neck. They stayed like that, in silence, for a few more moments, just the time to fully realize that they were both okay. Eventually, Dan took a step back.

“We should get going,” he said. “The village isn’t that far from here, we can see what to do next once we’re there.”

Phil nodded and took his hand. “Let’s go, then. You can lead the way.”

Dan smiled again, and they started walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading! next chapter will not be up next week, as I'm working on a holiday fic and wouldn't be able to get it done on time if I keep the posting schedule for A Blue Starfall. It will be back after the holidays have passed, I will probably say when on twitter @starhowll. Thank you for understanding <3


	10. Chapter 10

Phil had been awake for a few minutes now, but he still hadn’t gotten up. He was just enjoying the calm, laying on his side with his eyes closed, and just listening to the birds singing outside. It had taken him a few seconds to remember why he wasn’t at his flat. The previous day had been quite… eventful.

Dan and him had gotten back from the dryads’ place, and Phil had to wait outside of the forest until Dan came back with Nea, the magician who had cast the spell around it. Dan had probably talked to them on the way because they had only smiled and hadn't asked questions as they protected him from the spell surrounding the village. They had then left first to tell the other elves that Dan and Phil were coming. Phil hadn't been very good at hiding how nervous he was, but Dan had managed to calm him down before they joined Nea and the others.

He felt the bed dip behind him and Dan wrap an arm around his waist and drop a light kiss on his shoulder through the fabric of his t-shirt. Phil didn't open his eyes, but he moved his hand to take Dan's.

“Hello,” Dan muttered with a smile against his back.

They'd talked about this a while back, too, about boundaries and what they both were comfortable with. And if Phil was asexual, he still really liked physical contact and showings of affection, and Dan was perfectly happy with kissing and cuddling. 

Phil finally cracked his eyes open and turned around to face Dan.

“Hi,” he said.

Dan smiled again. “How are you doing today? I know yesterday was a lot.”

“I'm good, don’t worry. And, to be fair, yesterday could’ve gone a lot worse, everyone was nice.”

“That’s true. What do you want to do now?”

Phil shrugged. “Do you have somewhere to be?” Dan nodded. “Then don't worry about me, I'll just walk around for a while. Maybe even talk to people, who knows?”

Dan chuckled and dropped a kiss on the tip of his nose. 

“You do that,” he said softly. “Nea said they'd like to talk to you later, so they could help you find ways to adjust if you need to. Do you remember where to find them?”

“Yeah, I should manage, don't worry.”

Dan smiled and scooted closer to kiss him, before pulling away.

“Ew, morning breath,” he said, scrunching up his nose.

Phil laughed loudly. “Get out of here,” he pretended to push him away.

Dan laughed as well and sat up. “You love me.”

“I sure do,” Phil answered, taking Dan's hand in his and kissing it so gently, almost as if it was made of glass.

“You're such a sap,” Dan complained, but the soft smile on his face was telling enough in itself.

“Mhm, yeah,” he grinned. “That's why you love me.”

“Shut up,” Dan said, leaning in to kiss him again. “It totally is,” he added against his lips. “Even if you have morning breath.”

Phil laughed and pecked his lips one last time before lightly pushing him. “Go away, you have things to do. I'll see you later.”

*

Phil had barely been outside for a few minutes before he noticed a group of kids - maybe 10 or 12 years old - following him around and hiding quickly behind a wall as soon as he turned to look at them. He stopped and smiled a little, waiting until they showed up again.

“Hello,” he said. “Can I help you?”

One of them seemed a little older and braver than the others and walked up to him, messy blonde hair hiding their eyes.

“Are you really a human?”

“Yes, I am. My name is Phil.”

“I know,” the child rolled their eyes. “Everyone’s been talking about you. I thought humans only existed in stories adults tell to little kids, though, like Len over there. I’m Liz, his sister. Is it true then? Will you really be the monarch?”

“I guess so,” Phil answered, amused. “I still have to get used to a few things before that.”

“Is the human world very different? What were you doing there?”

Phil was about to answer when another kid walked out of the shadow.

“Liz, you’re asking too many questions.”

Liz turned around. “No I’m not! Stop being mean, Oran. I’m not annoying you, am I?” she asked, turning back to face Phil.

“No, no, not at all,” he reassured her. “I am a botanist, that means I study plants, what’s good for them and what isn’t. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but it’s the idea.”

“Oh! That’s nice. I like plants,” Liz smiled.

“Does that mean you know all of them?” Oran asked.

“Not quite,” Phil shook his head. “There are a lot of them, you know. And you guys have plants I’ve never seen before, because you have cultivated them when humans haven’t, so I’m always discovering new ones. It’s part of what makes it fun!”

“Okay,” Oran nodded slowly. “Well, I guess that means we can trust you then. Mean people wouldn’t spend their time studying plants, right? And, if Dan trusts you I guess we can too.”

Phil just smiled as they all ran past him, laughter and footsteps filling up the air.  He was glad things were going well with everyone so far, he had been worried about that. He put his hands on his pockets and started walking again, towards Nea’s office.

* * *

Dan was already there when Phil pushed the door open.

“Hey,” he said as he walked in and went up to him to put his chin on his shoulder.

Dan chuckled and shifted a little to look at him.

“Long day, huh? Did you get to see Nea?”

Phil nodded. “Yeah. They put a spell on my phone so I can charge it by using trees’ energy, I didn’t really understand everything, I just got that it wouldn’t hurt them or anything, so that’s good. And technically I should always be able to stay in touch with friends and family, which is nice.”

“That’s great,” Dan smiled. “So, you’re sure you want to stay then?”

“We’ve talked about this,” Phil smiled as well. “I haven’t changed my mind since then.”

“I know,” Dan leaned in to kiss him. “I just want to make sure that it’s really what you want, y’know?”

“I know, I know. But I’m sure it is,” Phil said.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Phil asked.

Dan rolled his eyes. “ _ Yes _ , I am. Besides, it was your idea. And if anything goes wrong, Nea will be there to fix it.”

Nea gave them a thumbs up from where they were standing. Phil sighed.

“But you’re the one who insisted to do it! Just- let me know if you change your mind, okay? She’ll be there in a minute.”

Dan had insisted that Phil called his mum to ask her to meet him here. Well, truly, Phil had been the one to bring it up but he hadn’t expected Dan to be so enthusiastic about meeting her. To be honest, she probably had seen stranger things than elves, but he was still nervous about her reaction. Dan had assured him Nea would be able to remove all memory of him from her mind without hurting her at all if they needed to, even if he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Dan walked up to him and put his arms around his neck before pecking his lips.

“It’s going to be fine, okay? I promise.”

Phil smiled and tightened his embrace a little before stepping back.

“Okay. Okay. Oh- I just got a text, it must be her. Yes, she says she’s at the border of the forest. I’ll be right back.”

Dan nodded. “Don’t scare her off too much,” he joked. “We’ll wait here.”

Phil gave him a last smile and headed off to the meeting point he had given his mum, trying his best to forget the weight in his stomach. He got there soon enough, and saw her waiting next to the path.

“Hey, mum!” he called out. “I’m here.”

She turned around and smiled, waiting for him to come up to her. 

“Hi Phil,” she said, hugging him. “Why did you ask me to come here?”

“Actually, I wanted you to meet someone. Follow me? It’s not far from here, you’ll see.”

She seemed sceptical but followed him anyway. She didn’t ask how he knew his way through the trees so well, either. They quickly made it back to where Dan was waiting, and they stopped.

“Dan?” Phil called out. “We’re here.”

Dan came out from behind a tree, hood pulled up over his head to cover his ears, and stepped into the light.

“Hi,” he said with a smile.

Phil's mum took a step forward, then another, until she got up to him.

“May I?” she asked softly, slowly reaching up to the hem of the hood.

Dan nodded and she pushed it back until it fell on his shoulder.

“Oh God,” she breathed. “You were real.”

Dan frowned and briefly looked at Phil.

“Mum? What are you talking about?”

“I knew your parents,” she said, and Phil saw Dan recoil slightly. “Well, not really, but I've met them. You were there too, but you were just a baby so I'm sure you don't remember me. That was years ago. How are they doing?”

“Mum, I-”

“They died,” Dan cut him off. “Just a little over a year ago.”

“Oh no, I'm sorry dear, I didn't know. I didn't know them very well, but they seemed like such good people. You're not alone, are you?” she added, putting a hand on his arm to comfort him.

“I'm not,” he smiled, briefly glancing up at Phil again. “Don't worry. I've got my village with me - and I have Phil, too.”

“Oh you're- oh my God, I'm sorry, I completely forgot why you brought me here,” she said as she turned back towards Phil. “I was so shocked to find out that you were real and not just… something I imagined all these years ago! I'm happy if you two are happy,” she grabbed Phil's arm and pulled them both into a tight embrace.

Dan chuckled and discreetly brushed his hand against Phil's, as if in his own way he was saying “ _ see? Everything's fine. I told you it would be.” _ and Phil couldn't imagine anything that could make him happier than this very moment.

*

A couple hours later, after the others had left, Dan and Phil were sat on a log, just watching the sunlight dance on the grass with the movement of leaves agitated by the wind. Dan had his head resting on Phil's shoulder, as Phil threaded his fingers lightly through his brown curls. 

“Your mum seemed quite happy to see you become a monarch,” Dan said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Phil chuckled. “Of course she was. When I was a kid, she used to always tell me that I would be a “king of the forest” one day, as she said, because I spent all my time in the woods near the house, no matter the weather. So, I guess she was kind of right, in the end.”

He felt Dan smile against his shoulder. “She really was,” he said. “Maybe she has a little magic too, after all.”

Phil just laughed. “I think I would’ve noticed by now, but she probably wasn’t too surprised that, of all people, I ended up dating an elf monarch.”

“Yeah, honestly, that’s very much like you.”

Phil smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, falling back into a comfortable silence for a few moments, until he caught something at the corner of his eye.

“Hey, look,” he said, pointing at it. “It’s a blue starfall.”

Dan laughed and sat up to look at him. “Seems like a sign. Are you ready for the new adventure of living here?”

Phil leaned in to kiss him, before moving away just a little to look into his eyes.

“Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end! Thank you so much to everyone who read, liked and supported this fic, I'm really happy if it could write something that you enjoyed!


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